


Carosel

by ink_quill_pen



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: (I may come back to this later but I just kinda fell out of love while writing), Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, circus AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:47:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29852778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ink_quill_pen/pseuds/ink_quill_pen
Summary: Rin's mother and Father always warned him about the circus, the hardships the abuse, the misery. They however managed to remind Rin to never follow a friend of a friend if invited to a private show.
Relationships: Kamiki Izumo & Moriyama Shiemi, Okumura Rin & Okumura Yukio, Okumura Rin & Shima Renzou, Okumura Rin & Suguro "Bon" Ryuuji, Shima Renzou & Suguro "Bon" Ryuuji
Kudos: 2





	Carosel

**Author's Note:**

> Haunted circus au. I love this concept but I found my original plot for this hard to write. I may be coming back to this with a new more fleshed-out plot. But I want to post this just to get it out of the way. I work hard on my projects and I don't like seeing them go to waste, so even if I don't continue this story I would still like it to see the light of day.

Rin danced under the open sky as the crisp summer air blew past him. He couldn’t hide the excitement brewing within him. He had only heard about the circus on tv, and at school. In his old town, it was a rather common thing for a circus to pop up every other year, all the students would flock to it and chatter on and on about how fun and bright everything was.

Yet, his parents never dared to let him go. When asked why they would always say ‘circuses are often filled with the wrong sort of crowd.’ 

“I still can’t believe you haven’t been to a circus before,” Shima walked alongside Rin, with Bon coming to his other flank just to prevent any tricks from the goblin core clown.

“My parents never liked it,”

“I can see why, the annoying music, junk food, cheap rides, uncomfortable wooden benches,” Bon replied, rubbing his head. 

“Aw come on Bon don’t be such a downer. It’s more about the experience, besides it wouldn’t hurt to have junk food in a while,” Rin giggled, bumping Bon to the side with his hips.

“See Rin gets it,” Shima joined in the scanty laughter. 

“I’m just sad Yukio couldn’t come along.” Rin sighed, gazing into the black abyss above, all the stars were hidden under the blanket of light pollution coming from the collective wealth of the city “I always wanted our first trip to be together.” 

“You would think on his week off he would have more time to relax,” Shima groaned, recalling the fixed irritation Yukio had when he asked to go to the circus. 

“He isn’t getting a week off, He just isn’t picking up any cases. He is tying up all loose ends before he starts on something new,” Correcting his statement Bon respired. 

“Well let’s not dwell too much on it, we should enjoy what time we have together tonight,”

“Yeah! Speaking of which Shima how did you managed to join the circus?” Rin‘s attention switched over to Shima who seemed stunned by the question.

“I mean no offense Shima but I can’t help but question the validity of a circus that would hire you,”

“Well for your information I stumbled across this place with some buddies of mine one night, they took me in because of my familiarity with fire,” Shima boasted, holding his head high as he spoke. “After a bit of training, I can double as a fire thrower and eater so I am rather useful for attractions,”

“How is a fire breathing safe inside a tent?” Rin snapped to attention as the relaxation dawned on him. “Shima, how many people have you murdered with fire?”

“I have no hurt anyone let alone murder! Mostly I perform outside, or in the middle of the tent. The tent is rather large, and any pillars I could hit are made of metal, and the canvas itself is made out of fire-resistant vinyl so there isn’t anything to burn,”

“Except the crowd,” Bon muttered, diverting his gaze.

“Hey! Don’t either of you listen.”

In Shima’s flustered state he was unable to soothe the breaking laughter for both Rin and Bon as they arrived at the carnival. 

“Where is everyone?” The yard was dead as only a few torches lit the grounds, only a few tents lingered in the open field, each sharing the same stripped patterns with differing neon shades of colors.

Oddly enough the main tent was striped white and searing pink that edged on the cusp of magenta. 

“Oh, I think I forgot to mention it’s not the official opening tonight. That’s tomorrow, today is just rehearsal and you guys get in for free since I am an employee,”

“I only heard about this carnival from you Shima. Either your boss doesn’t have good marketing or your pulling funds from somewhere you shouldn’t be,” Bon’s brows furrowed, his pupils shrinking as a frown settled into the wrinkles of his face. 

“Calm down Bon. It’s a very specialized event, you have to prebook it. Every time we perform officially the tent is always filled. Let’s just say the performance is a treat amongst those who have the budget to afford it,”

Bon tugged Rin away from Shima, leaning close his voice slid past the sensitive shell of Rin’s ear, causing a reflexive twitch. “Rin if you get uncomfortable tell me and I will get us both out of here,”

“Alright,” Rin murmured back, keeping his volume below what Shima could register. 

Come to think of it, Bon and Yukio rarely hang up, but they arranged a meeting for tomorrow. Was this some sort of setup?

It was probably just a coincidence. 

Bon and Yukio had meetings all the time, they were often paired on the same cases and work rather well with each other.

“Are you two done? They aren’t going to wait forever,” Shima tapped at the cheap metal watch fixed around his wrist.

“Who is they?” Rin asked nearly glued to Bon’s side.

“The other performers of course. I’m not the only one,” Shima began to fiddle with the clock mechanics implanted in the watch as Rin’s eyes refused to leave him. 

The tents only grew in size as they approached, becoming nearly unbelievably big as they finally made it to the entrance. It was hard to see any end or beginning. Two girls stood at the doorway, looking nonchalantly off into the distance as Shima was the first to approach.

“Hey Izumo,” Shima poured, snapping finger guns over to the first, her purple hair was tied into two separate ponytails, each flowing down to her cinched waist which was emphasized by the tight white leotard she wore.

“So these are your guests?” Izumo brushed off the attempt as her attention graced the two males who stood before her.

“Yes, Bon and Rin,” Shima pointed at each of them respectively, as he introduced them by name.

“Well is Rin single?” The second spoke up, her blonde hair tied into a bun as her emerald eyes glowed against her mirrored sequined black garment. 

“I-,” Shima sputtered to answer.

“How are you guys not cold?” Rin caught himself admiring the fine details of the outfits, each had reflecting embroidery in shapes of flowers, foxes, and diamonds. “It’s 36 degrees out!”

“We are used to the cold. Besides, it’s above freezing, and the tent is far too hot to wear anything warm,”

“Hey! you two are supposed to be warming up,” Scholdsing Shima waved his finger at the two girls.

“Ringmaster put us on lookout duty because he needed to discuss tomorrow with the higher-ups,” Izumo snapped, grabbing the finger and bending to a point of near fracture. 

“For a second we thought you bailed out,” The second girl cooed finger tapping Shima’s nose,

“It’s not my fault Rin spent ten minutes looking for a coat and another ten for gloves.”

“Hey there is no shame in being warm,” Rin huffed, crossing his arms.

“Well, are they ready to begin? We are here now,”

“Alright, Shiemi can you go get them while I lead them inside and help them settle in?” Izumo motioned to the second girl- to Shiemi and she skipped off to go search for the others.

“Right this way,” Izumo stepped into the tent, pulling back the wooden doors covered by the Pink and white-colored tarp.

The wave of heat embraced them, encompassing any and all cold-finished pieces of clothing.

Rin gasps as the air began to soothe the prickling discomfort forming at his fingertips.

“As I said, Warm,”

“Is it alright if I take some of this off?”

“Of course, we wouldn’t want you uncomfortable during the show,” Her smile felt disingenuous, edging on cruel. She probably didn’t mean it like that, but Rin. still grabbed onto Bon’s arm for comfort. 

They were lead up the metal bleachers to the middle of the audience, each bleacher seemed to separate out into seats each one bearing a plush cushion. Rin sat with Bon to his right and his folded coat and gloves at his left. 

“He wasn’t kidding when he said this was a pricy event,” there wasn’t a special of imperfection in the floors, not a sign of mess or distress of prior use was scribbled onto the metal set up. Not to mention the cushion was far more comfortable than they had most had the merit to be.

“I wonder how long it took them to set this all up. It must be worth it for the income they gain at official events,”

“Running this alone would cost a fortune,” Rin pressed the cushion in with his fingers. “No way, is this memory foam?”

“Not to mention the upkeep of animals if they do have those, and all the necessary training it would take beforehand to get them to perform. Of course, we can’t excuse the amount of training and ensure the acrobats would need. With circus dying out I can’t understand where they get the money for all of this,”

“I’m sure it’s just another gaudy thing amongst rich people everyone else is blind to,” Rin’s leg began to bounce as he let his fingers tap against the metal. “Do you remember where Shima and Izumo said they were going?”

“They said they’re going to warm up. Hey, Rin are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah… I just feel a bit off. I think I made Izumo mad at me,”

“She didn’t seem mad, I think she was irritated because Shima tried to grope her,”

“What?”

“Yeah, he tried to grab her but she slapped his hand, didn’t you see it?’

“No, I didn’t even hear the slap,”

“Well it was from behind her back, and it was more of a pat,” Bon noted, soothing the doubt clouding Rin. “At this point, I am concerned about how Shima got in. He doesn’t have money or fame, he is just gutsy.”

“Maybe they need someone who is easily replaceable?” RIn inquired, as he began to search for any traces of Shima.

“Yeah, that’s what I am concerned about,” 

“Well, they let him bring guests so that's a good sign right?”

“Rin do you remember when you told me to not lie to you?”

“What about it,”

“You’re making it hard to keep that promise,”

“Oh,” Rin’s voice cut as a pink hue settled across his pale face.

“But you don’t need to worry about that Rin, I won’t let anything happen to us, not to mention Yukio knows where we are and we both know how dedicated to work he is,”

“Yeah after all he is a professional worrier,” Spirits lifting a smile crossed his face.

“It’s called detective,” Bon chuckled, arm coming around Rin’s neck and resting on his shoulder. “Although he is good at that too,”

“Hey, aren’t you getting a bit hot? That scarf is rather thick, not to mention the turtleneck underneath,”

“Not really,” Bon reflexively scratched at where the scarf met the knit fabric. “I have been cold all day and it’s not warm enough to take this off.”

“Alright,” Rin shrugged turning his attention to the stage. “We must have thrown them way off track by arriving late,”

“I doubt it will take much longer for the show to start up. After all The blonde girl has most likely already got the higher-ups and they are just warming and getting their things collected,” Reassuring once more Bon began to trace the inner circle of the buttons sewn on his coat.

Only if he could calm aching questions in his mind as easily. Just as he was near bursting and quitting the mission altogether, the lights dimmed and music began to sound around the room.

Spotlights rippled through the dark and fixed onto a man dressed in a white suit, with a scarf of an eerily similarity to the tent. His undercoat seemed to have a matching tone to the underlay of his coat. But amongst it, all the most outstanding pieces of him was the two-tone shaded hair’ one being a deep amethyst, while the other was edging on royal purple and the gleaming harlequin green of his iris that glowed from beneath the overcast of his white top hat.

“Welcome esteemed guests, I am simply overjoyed to have you here with us. I wish you all enjoy the show,”

The green crawled into Rin capturing his throat even as the man disappeared into a cloud of mauve smoke. He could not burn the image from his mind, not in a hundred or even a thousand years. 

His hand grasped onto Bon’s, lips tighten as his lung squawked at him to leave, his mind screamed against the confinements of his own skull, but the entrancing eyes pressed all screams of warning down, further down than he could cough up.

His mute voice couldn’t scrape up the will to ask Bon to leave. He only pleads through the glassy shell of his own eyes, hoping Bon got the message.

Before Bon could confirm the consensus the first act rolled onto the stage it was Shima. 

Bon’s hand gave Rin’s a small squeeze of aid. “I will get us out of here, after Shima’s performance. I promise you,”

Only a tear slipped past the barrier as his throat constricted blocking the whimpering cries that edged themselves forward. The eyes were leaving, they were still there, burning holes through his mind as his stomach began to boil.

He now understood what exactly his mother had meant by Circus is filled with the wrong sort. Not the drug addicts, diseased, or psychotic; no this was plagued by something far worse.

Shima left a trail of flames in his wake as the flames escaped from the gaping mouth, his eyes glittered with delight as the fire threatened to sear the unshaven scruff around his face.

The sparkle was shared by Bon as the flames danced in his pupils, softly they began to dilate as the fire blossomed. 

Finally, the act was over and Rin tried to shake Bon from his trance.

“Bon, remember what-,” Rin began to crack on his words as the idea of leaving sent rings to strikes through his mind, mussels spasmed and twitched out of command.

“Just one more act,”

His bottom lip met the other as his statement finished, the small drop caused a sudden awakening. “Rin get your stuff now, we have to go,”

Through the precurses of a migraine Rin was able to collect the gloves and coat sending a nod to Bon. Just as he stood a man dressed in a fine black suit stood in front of his bleachers, although tall he was rather thin, nearly dainty with how well his hair was combed and facial hair tamed and tucked. 

“Leaving so soon? You only just got here, surely you could stay and watch a few more acts,” 

Blood rushed along his throat carrying into his mouth he let the crimson drip down creating a small splatter from where it left the cusp of his chin; as he collapsed he barely even noticed the metal dart that caused such a wound.


End file.
